Great-West Life Assurance closes offices following threats to buildings

Great-West Life Assurance closes offices following threats to buildings | Insurance Business

Great-West Life Assurance ordered its employees in Winnipeg to stay home on Wednesday after the insurer received threats.

“Out of an abundance of caution for our employees and the community around us, we alerted the Winnipeg Police Service and have closed our buildings at 60, 80 and 100 Osborne St., 444 St. Mary and 560 Broadway,” company spokeswoman Liz Kulyk said in an email statement sent yesterday.

CBC News reported that police were called Tuesday just before midnight regarding a possible threat within the buildings. Officers swept through Great-West’s five buildings for anything that might look suspicious, but found nothing, said police spokeswoman Const. Tammy Skrabek.

“With that, [Great-West] chose to close down their buildings and have employees stay home until police could do a secondary search during the day,” Skrabek said.

A police K9 unit participated in a second search of the buildings, but again found no threat to the safety of employees.

“We are now confident that the offices are secure and therefore, all of our offices are expected to be open tomorrow, Thursday, Dec. 6 as usual,” Great-West said in a news release.